Real-Life Training Log: 125 Days Of Preparation For My First Marathon

[Ben E Lou]

I have some fairly lofty goals for my first marathon, and I feel that I could use the accountability of posting a daily training and nutrition log. I have a blog, but I don't think something as detailed as what I want to do here is appropriate for it. A dynasty thread seems perfect.

THE RACE
I am registered to run in the Albany, GA Marathon on March 1st, 2014: Albany Marathon in Georgia

This particular race seems to be a fit for several reasons:

1. I don't want to have to deal with the unknowns and variables that I dealt with in my first race: hotel, unfamiliar city, where to eat, etc., so the #1 criteria was that I could easily drive from my home or a family member/close friend's home on the morning of the race. One of my older brothers lives in a suburb of Albany.
2. I ran a Half Marathon on October 20th, and wanted to allow some time to recover and transition to my next plan. The 16-week "Run Less, Run Faster" plan very much appeals to me for reasons I'll discuss later. I'd like to do the entire plan, so the timing of Albany is pretty much perfect as well. I can do the entire plan starting the week of November 11th and have a bit of time to prepare for some of the pieces of it that look intimidating.
3. Albany is low-altitude and flat. There were a couple of other late-winter/early-spring races that would have been fits, but Albany is by far the closest thing to my native training environment. My typical training runs don't get above 60ft. Albany's around 200 feet.

TRAINING PLAN
I'm planning to use the "Run Less, Run Faster" training plan. I've purchased the read the book and it feels like a great fit. Based on my time at the half marathon in October, I've entered the RLRF training times and attached a spreadsheet. The core of the plan is having just three key runs per week, but they are all significantly faster than those of most other marathon training plans. Interestingly enough, when I created my own plan for the half marathon, I used (without knowing about this plan) the same three key runs as the RLRF plan. My interval training wasn't as fast, but my long runs and tempo runs near the end were very similar, if not a little faster, than the RLRF times.

INITIAL RACE GOALS
I've got 4+ months from this writing until race day, so I'd like to write these out now and be able to look back at my progress. Based on my time at the half marathon, the various calculations on the internet predict my race time for a full somewhere between 3:31 and 3:34. That said, it's my first marathon. I'll be pretty proud of myself for finishing. So, that said, here are what I see as my tiered goals:

• I'll be pleased if I... ...finish in 4 hours or less.
• I'll be very pleased if I... ...finish in 3:45 or less.
• I'll be extremely pleased if I... ...finish in 3:30 or less.
• I'll be thrilled if I... ...qualify for Boston (3:25 or less).

To be honest, by writing them out this way, I'm trying to keep myself in check. The reality is that I want to run a Boston-qualifying time, that's my real internal goal here, and I'll probably be a little down if I don't make it--and that's a little silly. I don't want to run a 3:40 in my first marathon and be disappointed in it. Sure, all indications are that I can do better than that, but I want to keep perspective as well. And with that...

PERSPECTIVE FOR MYSELF IN CASE I DON'T QUALIFY FOR BOSTON

• On 3/1/2013, a year before the Albany Marathon...
  • you weighed 256 pounds
  • your best speed for any appreciable distance was around 4 miles at a 12-minute pace
  • the farthest you'd run in your life was 4.68 miles
• On 9/1/2013, six months before Albany...
  • you were THRILLED at having run 14 miles at an 8:48 pace a week or so ago
  • you were THRILLED at almost having broken 50 minutes in a 10K training run
  • the farthest you'd run in your life was 14.4 miles

Just writing this down now in case I need to re-read it on 3/1/2014.

CURRENT WEIGHT/RACE-DAY WEIGHT
I weighed around 175 on race day at Myrtle Beach. Based on the remaining fat pooch around my belly, I suspect that my ideal race weight is going to be 5-10 pounds lighter than that. According to this calculator, losing on the low end of that amount may get me close to 3:25 without any improved fitness. (And of course, I'd expect at least some improved fitness over the next 4 months of training.) I'm not going to do anything particularly special other than continue eating healthily to try to drop those pounds. The main thing is just to stay focused, so I will be posting my weight in here, hopefully on a daily basis, for accountability. Starting weight as of this morning was 176.8.

NUTRITION
I will continue to use the LoseIt app/web site to set a calorie budget and log food eaten. I've set it to "Lose .5 Pounds Per Week" to decide my calorie budget. I typically don't eat my exercise calories back, but I intend to do so to some degree at this point. I think my rule is going to be that if I exercise more than 500 calories, I'll eat enough back to get back to no more than a 500 deficit. In other words, my budget is around 2200 calories. If I burn 900 calories running, I'll eat 400 more calories that day to get to around 2600.

In addition to the calorie numbers, I'm generally trying to stick to the following per-day averages.

• at least 150g protein
• at least 35g fiber
• 25g or less saturated fat
• 60g or less sugars

I'm not really attempting to hit these every single day, but I'd definitely like to hit them as averages every week.


LIABILITIES/PITFALLS/CONCERNS
My #1 fear/concern coming into the training is that I won't be able to do some of the Tuesday interval runs. They are unquestionably faster than anything I've done. For example, the first Tuesday has me running three one-mile intervals at a 6:50 pace. I don't think I ran even a single mile at 6:50 during training for the half. In the two weeks before the official plan begins, I'm going to work on this exact workout, maybe twice per week, to try to get my mile time in line with the plan a bit more. (On the flip side, the Thursday and Sunday runs and times look very doable based on my current fitness, and I tend to think they'll be too easy. I guess I'm better at endurance than speed.)

The other issue is that training will go through both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'll be traveling for both. Both will be to much hillier locales than my normal Lowcountry training, so there should be some benefit to be had there if time allows me to complete my scheduled runs. Time could be a concern on both trips, and weather could be a factor on the second.

OK. I think that's all the prelim stuff.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK OF 10/28/2013 PLAN
Monday--rest day, possible incline treadmill or cycling if I get some unexpected extra time

Tuesday--Interval run. Initial goal will be three 7:15 miles with 440 rest intervals. I want to see how close I am to the 6:50 goal. If the first one is easier than I think, I'll go faster in the next two.

Wednesday--Cycling. I've never really used the bikes at the gym, so I'd like to get comfortable with those workouts as well before the official start.

Thursday--Depends on how Tuesday goes. Either a tempo run or more intervals.

Friday--Off if I get to cycle on Monday. Cycling if not.

Saturday--Long run. Probably 12 miles at around an 8:20 pace. Plan calls for 13 @ 8:35 two weeks from this day. I did 10 @ 8:03 a couple of days ago, so I'm not concerned about being able to hit the times. I just want to stay sharp on the long runs and comfortable with long distances.

(Note: I also usually do strength training. The plan right now is to do upper body on Tuesdays and Fridays, lower body on Wednesdays.)

[HerRealName]

I'm going to be following along very closely. I also picked up Run Less, Run Faster but I haven't had a chance to even open it up yet. I'm looking at a late April marathon so you'll be ahead of me by a couple months.

[Ben E Lou]

MONDAY, 10/28 RECAP
Training--None, as expected.
Nutrition--Stellar. Large servings of raw spinach and kale at lunch and dinner, respectively. Right on calorie budget. Only 12g saturated fat. 164g protein, 49g fiber, 53g sugars.

Daily Summary for Mon, Oct 28th

for Ben Lewis

Calorie Summary Daily calorie budget 2,216 Food calories consumed 2,215 Exercise calories burned 0 Net calories for the day 2,215 +/- for the day 1 under budget

Daily Log		Calories
Breakfast	848
Steel Cut Oatmeal With Blueberries	12 Servings	434
Almonds, Sliced, Bulk	44 Grams	251
Chia Seeds by the gram	13 Grams	64
Nutrient data missing for: Chol.
Banana by the gram	111 Grams	99
Lunch	521
Sweet Potato By The Ounce	6.25 Ounces	161
Chicken, Breast, Grilled	9 Ounces	279
Tomatoes, Grape (by Grams)	84 Grams	30
Baby Spinach (by the gram)	221 Grams	51
Dinner	497
Salmon, Wild Caught, Cooked	148 Grams	269
Kale by the gram	101 Grams	53
Tessemare's Glaze (Lemon Pepper)	15 Grams	114
Cheese, Romano, Grated, Fresh	2 Tablespoons	60
Snacks	350
Almond Milk Vanilla Unsweetened	1.5 Cups	45
Walnuts by the gram (bulk whole foods)	15 Grams	95
Blueberries (by the gram)	140 Grams	80
Protein Supplement, Whey	1 Scoop	130

Nutrient Summary		% Calories
Fat	88g	34.8%
Saturated Fat	12g
Cholesterol	333mg
Sodium	1,611mg
Carbohydrates	205g	36.2%
Fiber	49g
Sugars	53g
Protein	164g	29%

Originally Posted by HerRealName

I'm going to be following along very closely. I also picked up Run Less, Run Faster but I haven't had a chance to even open it up yet. I'm looking at a late April marathon so you'll be ahead of me by a couple months.

It was an easy read for me. Very practical and enjoyable.

[DaddyTorgo]

If you qualify for Boston I'm somewhere north of 95% certain I can get you free accommodations if you actually plan to run it.

[MartinD]

Good luck with the training, Ben - looks like a solid training plan for the next few months, and I really like the 'to put things in perspective' points that you've made.

Something to be aware of - my understanding of the Boston entry process is that running under the qualifying time doesn't guarantee you a place, as the organisers changed the rules a few years back to stop the race selling out on the day that it opened. As a result, the amount of time that you 'beat' your BQ time by is now taken into account - the more you beat your qualifying time by, the earlier you're able to enter and the more likely it is that you'll get a place. If you're just a few seconds under the time, don't be surprised if the race fills up before they get to you...

This is probably a better explanation: 2014 Boston Marathon Cut-off is 1:38 Under Qualifying Mark | Runner's World & Running Times

[DaddyTorgo]

My town has some bibs for Boston (we're the halfway point)...I wonder if I could get one and then not actually do the running myself?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

If you qualify for Boston I'm somewhere north of 95% certain I can get you free accommodations if you actually plan to run it.

That's very kind. Of course, it's an awfully long way off, and something of a long-shot. But I'm guessing that the wife would want to treat it as a major vacation and stay in a semi-fancy hotel or B&B.

Originally Posted by MartinD

Good luck with the training, Ben - looks like a solid training plan for the next few months, and I really like the 'to put things in perspective' points that you've made.

Something to be aware of - my understanding of the Boston entry process is that running under the qualifying time doesn't guarantee you a place, as the organisers changed the rules a few years back to stop the race selling out on the day that it opened. As a result, the amount of time that you 'beat' your BQ time by is now taken into account - the more you beat your qualifying time by, the earlier you're able to enter and the more likely it is that you'll get a place. If you're just a few seconds under the time, don't be surprised if the race fills up before they get to you...

This is probably a better explanation: 2014 Boston Marathon Cut-off is 1:38 Under Qualifying Mark | Runner's World & Running Times

Yes, I do recall reading something about that, now that you mention it. Guess I'll have to run a 3:20 or so to be safe then, eh?

[Ben E Lou]

I did my first mile intervals this morning. The target for training is to do all three in 6:50. I haven't tried to run a single mile "fast" at all, so I really didn't have any idea of context here. I really just wanted to complete all three today, two weeks before the "official" program start, in decent times to get a feel for where I am.

Interval 1: 7:24, AvgHR 161
Interval 2: 7:03, AvgHR 165
Interval 3: 6:54, AvgHR 167

That's better than I would have guessed. I'm thinking that I'll do these one more time (next Tuesday) before the week of the 11th and try to get under 7:00 for all three of them.

Link to today's workout: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/397017129

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

That's very kind. Of course, it's an awfully long way off, and something of a long-shot. But I'm guessing that the wife would want to treat it as a major vacation and stay in a semi-fancy hotel or B&B.

Of course. Just thought I'd offer, as hotels can be mucho expensive during Marathon time.

[Ben E Lou]

TUESDAY, 10/29 RECAP
Morning Weigh-In: 176.2

Training--3x1M Intervals, as mentioned above. Strava Link: Run Profile | 3x1-Mile Intervals | Times and Records | Strava
Exercise calories burned: 691

Nutrition--Darned good. Greek yogurt with low-sugar bulk granola from Whole Foods, almonds, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and some Ezekiel granola for breakfast. Grilled chicken, black beans, and homemade guacamole for lunch, pork tenderloin, broccoli, and quinoa for dinner. Had a large pear for the pre-run snack, and 1oz. dark chocolate with 1.5 oz. walnuts as an afternoon snack. Burned ~700 calories on the morning run, so ate an additional ~200.


Daily Summary for Tue, Oct 29th

for Ben Lewis

Calorie Summary Daily calorie budget 2,212 Food calories consumed 2,445 Exercise calories burned 691 Net calories for the day 1,754 +/- for the day 459 under budget

Daily Log		Calories
Breakfast	849
Almonds, Sliced, Bulk	58 Grams	331
Morning Delight Granola (bulk)	30 Grams	120
Triple Berry Blend (by the gram)	140 Grams	80
Yogurt, Greek, Plain, Nonfat	10 Ounces	175
Ezekiel 4:9 Flax By The Gram	45 Grams	142
Lunch	574
Chicken, Breast, Grilled	8 Ounces	248
Homemade Guacamole	6 Servings	194
Rinsed Black Beans By The Gram	100 Grams	132
Dinner	433
Broccoli, Steamed (By The Gram)	152 Grams	53
Pork Tenderloin	8 Ounces	260
Quinoa By The Gram	100 Grams	120
Snacks	590
Pear by the gram	259 Grams	150
85% Dark Chocolate	28 Grams	173
Walnuts by the gram (bulk whole foods)	42 Grams	266
Exercises	691
Nike+ Workout	50 Min	691

Nutrient Summary		% Calories
Fat	108g	38.7%
Saturated Fat	21g
Cholesterol	250mg
Sodium	1,462mg
Carbohydrates	219g	34.6%
Fiber	62g
Sugars	59g
Protein	169g	26.7%

[Ben E Lou]

Heh, so the Runner's World Smart Coach (Rodale Central Authentication Service (CAS) Login) includes a "predicted race time if you follow this plan." I'm of course skeptical, but I figure it's at least worth writing these down to look back at 'em four months from now. It's saying that based on my current running volume and HM race time, if I were to follow their plans at the following intensities from 11/11 to 3/1, I would achieve the corresponding times:

"Maintenance" Intensity: 3:32:58
"Moderate" Intensity: 3:25:47
"Hard" Intensity: 3:21:46
"Very Hard" Intensity: 3:17:56

All of their plans other than "maintenance" come with suggested speed improvements over time, I guess assuming fitness improvements by training. Looking at their plans, right now...

Maintenance looks way too easy. I definitely want and expect to improve. It would have me running my tempo runs in January and early February 10 to 15 seconds more slowly than what I'm doing now.

Moderate is significantly easier than RLRF, and doesn't look absurdly easy like Maintenance, but still looks too doable without pushing myself. For example, it schedules the week of December 15th for me to run 3x1mile in 7:03 each with twice the recovery time of RLRF. (1/2 mile versus 1/4 mile.) And the Easy Runs in the 5-9 mile range start at 9:02 per mile and only increase in intensity to 8:48. I'm currently doing those at around 8:45.

Hard looks challenging, but not overly so. It's still definitely easier than RLRF, but it does look like it would push me. For an apples-to-apples comparison, RLRF has me doign a 20-mile run with an 8:35 pace on January 25th. On the same day, SmartCoach is suggesting 20 miles @8:46.

Very Hard looks to be just slightly easier than RLRF. That same 1/25/14 20-miler is at 8:41 versus the RLRF 8:35.

I do like the SmartCoach plans better than any others I've seen besides RLRF. It's a four-run-day-a-week plan. If it turns out that I can't keep up with RLRF, I could definitely see myself switching over to the Hard or Very Hard program, and I could also see myself using one of these for a shorter distance as a change of pace after the marathon is done. *shurg*

[Subby]

If possible you may want to ratchet back a little bit on your carbs. You aren't burning all of those carbs in a workout, and the ones you aren't going to burn become fat. What about 150g carbs per day?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

If possible you may want to ratchet back a little bit on your carbs. You aren't burning all of those carbs in a workout, and the ones you aren't going to burn become fat. What about 150g carbs per day?

Is that still the case when I'm in a calorie deficit though? I'm pretty sure that my daily budget is fairly accurate for a daily 250-calorie deficit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the body uses up or eliminates mostly all of what you eat when in a deficit.

First day on an indoor exercise bike. Ugh. I'm going to need to charge my Kindle Fire or steal my wife's iPad. Very boring. I'll do a full recap in the morning, but the bottom line is that I got in a somewhat-abbreviated upper body strength training workout and did some indoor cycling cross training on a very busy work day, so I can't complain too much.

Tempo run tomorrow. I'm thinking 1 mile easy, 5 miles at whatever feels right for pace (maybe 7:20ish), 1 mile cool down. For whatever reason, I seem to feel most comfortable with the tempo runs.

[Subby]

I think you are supposed to replace those carbs with protein - so more nuts or lean meat.

[Ben E Lou]

WEDNESDAY, 10/30 RECAP
Morning Weigh-In: 174.3

Training--38 minutes exercise bike. Welcome to Flow 1.0.1 - © Polar Electro Oy 2013
Upper Body Shortened due to time constraints (Apache Tomcat/7.0.42 - Error report)

Nutrition--As I figured, the accountability of posting this daily in a thread is helping, at least so far. Breakfast was steel-cut oatmeal with blueberries, apples, and walnuts. Grilled chicken breast, black beans, and guacamole for lunch. Pork tenderloin with a spinach/kale salad for dinner. 2 eggs and 40g of pistachio nuts for a snack. Only 33g sugars.
Daily Summary for Wed, Oct 30th

for Ben Lewis

Calorie Summary
Daily calorie budget	2,200
Food calories consumed	2,207
Exercise calories burned	459
Net calories for the day	1,748
+/- for the day	452 under budget

Nutrient Summary		% Calories
Fat	103g	41.4%
Saturated Fat	16g
Cholesterol	638mg
Sodium	1,620mg
Carbohydrates	169g	30.2%
Fiber	45g
Sugars	33g
Protein	159g	28.4%

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

I think you are supposed to replace those carbs with protein - so more nuts or lean meat.

I guess I'm still trying to figure out why that would be. I'm getting on the very high end of any protein recommendations I can find. I'm not a bodybuilder, but I'm getting very close to 1g per pound of body weight. I'm not afraid of getting more fat from nuts, but it's already in the 90-110g range typically, so I'm not sure it's necessary. I guess my main confusion here is that nearly everything I read seems to indicate that runners need more carbs than the average person. RLRF suggests 60-70% of calories coming from carbs, and unless I'm missing something, it seems that most other sources suggest 40% or more. I'm typically in the 30-40% range, which often makes me wonder if I'm getting enough carbs, and now I'm being told that I'm getting too many.

[Alan T]

I think it really depends on the nutrition ideology that you are following perhaps. In the book racing weight, he argues that for long distance runners, including marathoners, it seems almost impossible to eat too many carbs.

The one catch though, is they are talking about good carbs, not refined white breads or things like that. So eating more vegetables and fruits are highly recommended in the book.

Their balance for this is to reduce even further the amount of fats that you take in. Bringing in fats in specific places are ideal where it helps the most (whole milk is one of the examples that I remember), and removing excess fats that don't add any benefit (like most deserts and sweets).

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I think it really depends on the nutrition ideology that you are following perhaps. In the book racing weight, he argues that for long distance runners, including marathoners, it seems almost impossible to eat too many carbs.

The one catch though, is they are talking about good carbs, not refined white breads or things like that. So eating more vegetables and fruits are highly recommended in the book.

Their balance for this is to reduce even further the amount of fats that you take in. Bringing in fats in specific places are ideal where it helps the most (whole milk is one of the examples that I remember), and removing excess fats that don't add any benefit (like most deserts and sweets).

Yeah, I'm totally on board with that. Other than for rare and intentional indulgences (pretty much only on race day and sometimes on our once-a-month-ish date overnights,) I eat close to zero added sugars, never eat white bread (or whole wheat, for that matter....I don't really like bread,) and get the great majority of my carbs from fruits, veggies, nuts, and steel-cut oats. The mild weight gain/stagnation early this month was mainly from eating too many nuts. ("Bah, I'm still well under 180. I'll grab a handful of walnuts before bedtime when I've already eaten my calorie goal for the day and not bother to weigh/log how much of 'em I'm getting!") I don't have much to compare it to, but I tend to suspect that the general makeup of my diet is fairly close to ideal for a runner, and maybe that's the best explanation for the rapid performance increase. For example, I was reading this article a couple of days ago:

The Best Foods For Runners | Runner's World

I eat 12 of the 15 foods mentioned there several times per week, and it's pretty rare that at least one of the items mentioned on that list isn't in a meal. (Today's meal plan includes 7 of the 15. Egad!) The only three that aren't in the regular rotation are oranges, whole-grain pasta, and whole-grain bread. On the rare times that I eat bread, it is whole grain, but we're talking less than once a month. I rarely ate pasta before I started running, and haven't picked it up since. I don't know why I don't eat oranges. I like them, and after reading that article, they've been put on the list for our next shopping run. I don't really see adding the bread and pasta. 13 out of 15 ain't bad.

[Ben E Lou]

THURSDAY, 10/31 RECAP
Morning Weigh-In: 173.2

Training--Running. 1 mile warmup, 5 miles at tempo pace. As expected, I'm ahead of schedule for this run. 5 mile tempo run paces range from 7:35 to 8:05 in the plan laid out for me. The tempo portion of today's run was done at a 7:32 pace. The last mile was 7:19. Run Profile | 1-Mile Warmup, 5-Mile Tempo | Times and Records | Strava

Nutrition--Still on a bit of a roll here. Big portion of sweet taters at lunch, big portion of broccoli at dinner. Wild-caught salmon and chicken breasts for meats. The run burned 700+ calories, so ate an additional 200 or so.

Nutrients
Fat	84g	32%
Saturated Fat	16g
Cholesterol	592mg
Sodium	1138mg
Carbohydrates	208g	36%
Fiber	45g
Sugars	48g
Protein	188g	32%

Summary
Food Calories	2,338
Exercise Calories	704
Net Calories	1,634
+/- Calories	-559
Weight	173.2

[Ben E Lou]

FRIDAY, 11/1 RECAP
Morning Weigh-In: 173.5 (up .3 from yesterday, down 3.3 from thread begin)

Training--Today's training defined "Cross-Training." Started off with 3 rounds of the "Seven Minute Workout" with a one-minute rest between each round. From there, 15 minutes on the indoor bike, 10 minutes easy, then 5 minutes up-tempo. Ended with 5 minutes of high-incline (15%) treadmill walking at 3.7mph. Nice variety kept me from getting bored, and per my HRM, burned right around 500 calories.

Nutrition--I grilled/smoked my meats for the next couple of weeks today: salmon, flank steak, chicken, pork tenderloin. And as is typically the case on grill day, I grazed a fair bit and didn't log it all. I probably ate another 300-500 calories of mostly protein above what is shown below.

Nutrients
Fat	125g	43%
Saturated Fat	28g
Cholesterol	232mg
Sodium	864mg
Carbohydrates	167g	26%
Fiber	57g
Sugars	34g
Protein	201g	31%

Summary
Food Calories	2,559
Exercise Calories	509
Net Calories	2,050
+/- Calories	-145
Weight	173.5

I'm telling myself that it's ok to indulge a bit during this time when I haven't hit the "official" start of training.


Tomorrow morning: long run. I think I'm going to do 12 miles in a "pyramid" style, with paces something like...

Mile 1: 9:00
2: 8:45
3: 8:30
4: 8:15
5: 8:00
6: 7:45
7: 7:45
8: 8:00
9: 8:15
10: 8:30
11: 8:45
12: 9:00

No particular reason for doing it this way; I'm mainly just playing around with styles I haven't tried before I start the official RLRF program in 10 days.

[Ben E Lou]

SATURDAY, 11/2 RECAP
Morning Weigh-In: 173.9 (up .4 from yesterday, down 2.9 from thread begin)

Training--12-Mile "Pyramid" Run. Here's how it went, compared to the goal paces I had for myself:

MILE	GOAL	ACTUAL
1	9:00	8:55
2	8:45	8:40
3	8:30	8:29
4	8:15	8:10
5	8:00	7:57
6	7:45	7:45
7	7:45	7:34
8	8:00	7:43
9	8:15	7:51
10	8:30	8:11
11	8:45	8:16
12	9:00	8:14

Overall, 12 miles @ 8:09 Pace. Avg Heart Rate 158.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/398679702

In general I find that I have a hard time slowing down on runs like this once I get going, so it's no surprise that the final 6 were faster than the first. Maybe the next one I do like this needs to be faster so that I need the slowdown.

As far as the comparison to RLRF, the long run two weeks from today is scheduled for 13 miles at an 8:35 pace. Definitely feels doable. The book recommends that when all three runs become not challenging, it's time to increase the pace. Looks like at first my challenge will be to reign myself in on the tempo and long runs to make sure I have enough for the intervals.

In the book, Sundays are an "optional cross training" day. I might do upper body + incline treadmill walking.

Nutrition--I use the lowest calorie-burn estimate for my runs, which is always from my Polar HRM (though now that I have a Garmin, it's just a hair lower than that. So far the two are close enough that it's pretty much interchangeable.) The Polar estimated the burn from the 12-miler at around 1400 calories. I didn't eat an extra 900, but did enjoy have the extra calories. I did manage to keep the sugars at goal and only went a little over on saturated fat, and much of that was from coconut, so I'm not really troubled by it.

By the way, I discovered a new item at Sam's Club. I don't think they've carried it before: unsalted frozen broccoli/carrots/cauliflower in steam-able bags. Suh-weet! I had them for the first time today. They tasted pretty much like fresh steamed veggies, and were extremely easy to do. Very nice find.

Here's the recap:

Nutrients
Fat	137g	43%
Saturated Fat	28g
Cholesterol	261mg
Sodium	830mg
Carbohydrates	244g	34%
Fiber	61g
Sugars	60g
Protein	160g	22%

Summary
Food Calories	2,793
Exercise Calories	1,401
Net Calories	1,392
+/- Calories	-805
Weight	173.9

[Ben E Lou]

Busy these last few days, so no posts. Catching up...SUNDAY-TUESDAY, 11/3-11/4 RECAP

Morning Weigh-In Tuesday: 174.5


Training--

SUNDAY
50-Minute walk on the treadmill, mostly at 3.8mph with 15% incline. When I do these treadmill walks, I'm much more interested in heart rate and time than I am in distance. Average heart rate was 146, including right around 30 minutes in the middle where it was 150 or higher.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/399690223

MONDAY
Upper body strength training and 40 minutes on the exercise bike

TUESDAY
3x1-Mile Intervals. Goal is eventually 6:50 for all three. did them today in 7:02, 6:58, 6:54. Much better than last week's 7:24/7:03/6:54.

Nutrition--Bad day Sunday. Took the 4-year-old to Golden Corral for breakfast. Usually I'm fine there, but they had a new dish they called "bacon candy." Yeah..bacon chunks coated with maple syrup. I'm just surprised that I'm only half a pound heavier now than I was the day before. Other days good to great on nutrition.

[Subby]

If you can't eat bacon candy once in a while then there is no point to any of this.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

If you can't eat bacon candy once in a while then there is no point to any of this.

[Young Drachma]

Go Fred Go

[Ben E Lou]

The in-laws came to town this week and sent us on an overnight without the kids. We got a hotel near the beach, and I decided to enjoy the culinary delights of downtown Charleston for the last couple of days.

On the positive side, I got in some good training this week, capped off by a 15-mile run with an Atlantic Ocean view this morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/401810806

8:39 pace with a 151 HR. I'll take that for a run that long. Picked up the pace for the last couple of miles and still felt pretty good.

With the type and amounts of food I ate downtown these last couple of days, even with the 15-miler, my weight is probably up a bit, possibly over 180. We'll see tomorrow morning. With the beginning of the official training on Monday will also come much more of a focus on eating cleanly and tracking/recording everything.

As for comparing today's run to the RLRF plan, the first 15-miler is scheduled for 2 weeks from today at an 8:50 pace. The fastest 15-mile run is in early February: 8:20 pace. I have to feel good about where I am so far.

[Ben E Lou]

Heh. 183.6. Baby dedication for Renee and a "bad" meal after that, then back fully on the wagon tomorrow morning. 1 pound a week for 16 weeks gets me right in that 165-170 range on race day, which is probably pretty close to my ideal race weight.

[Ben E Lou]

Evidently, I'm not only capable of epic and rapid weight loss, but epic and rapid weight *gain* as well. I'm sure some of this is water weight due to high sodium in the meals we had after the dedication, but still. Wow.

I begin marathon training today at 188.1. I probably need to ditch eating my exercise calories, at least for a while. Not a biggie. I didn't eat any exercise calories for the better part of 8 months when I got rolling with weight loss.

[Subby]

Cut carbs and burn more fat. As long as you have a full glycogen store for race day you'll be fine.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

Cut carbs and burn more fat and you should be fine. As long as you have a full glycogen store for race day you'll be fine.

I listened to the Noakes podcast you were talking about. He spent ~60 minutes talking about why runners shouldn't eat carbs, and 10 seconds saying one *crucial* sentence. The sentence was very early on, at around the 7:30 mark. To paraphrase, he said "you will either burn the carbohydrates you eat in your exercise or the rest of the day, or turn them into fat." He then spent the rest of the podcast ignoring the first option he mentioned: burning the carbs, instead insinuating the rest of the way that they turn into fat. My guess is that spending too much time on calories in vs. calories out instead of preaching low-carb doesn't sell many books. My experience has been pretty simple: I eat more calories than I burn, and I put on weight. I eat less calories than I burn, I lose weight--no matter if those calories come from carbs, fat, or protein. The bottom line is that I lost 100 pounds typically eating 175-225 carbs per day. (I'll see if I can do a LoseIt data dump to double-check that right now.) I'm a "dance with you brung ya" kinda guy.

[Subby]

I think you'll be fine. Ketogenic diet is always pretty trendy, though. I like the principals - mostly because I am always interested in thinking that goes against accepted theories. That said - 200 carbs per day worked fine for you. As long as you are burning through them and they aren't turning to fat, you're good to go.

[Ben E Lou]

Yeah, the bottom line is that I ate a truckload of food over the long weekend.

FRIDAY NIGHT

First we went to the rooftop bar on top of a big hotel overlooking Charleston Harbor. (Pavilion Bar Food) My wife had a glass of wine. I had:

Appetizer 1: Tuna Tower tuna tartare, lump crabmeat and avocado with lemon chile oil

Then we went to Lowcountry Bistro (Page Not Found - Lowcountry Bistro. I had shrimp and grits AND fried green tomato appetizers. The wife had maybe two bites of each. (She had zero bites of the tuna tower.) Then I had chicken and waffles for dinner. Ate the whole dang thing. Half a chicken (fried, of course), pecan butter, syrup, two sweet potato waffles.

SATURDAY
Got up Saturday, ran 15 miles, showered, then went to the breakfast buffet at the Francis Marion Hotel (http://www.francismarionhotel.com/wp...fet-2-2013.pdf)

I have no idea how many pieces of bacon I ate and how many of the stuffed french toast pieces I had, but suffice it say that after a 15-mile run, a brutha can eat a LOT.

SUNDAY

Oh yeah, and then Sunday we had ribs and ice cream after Renee's dedication.

So, yeah, epic eating, epic weight gain. They go together.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY ONE (MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
188.1

EXERCISE
I've put together a full-body circuit workout that I think should work well. It alternates between push, pull, and lower body so that there's little/no rest between exercises. I'm expecting this to maximize my time and a side benefit is some additional calorie burn due to the heart rate not having time to recover as much. I expect this to be my normal strength training workout through most of the next 16 weeks.

3x (pushups, lat pulldowns, squats)
rest 30 seconds
3x (dips, pullups, lunges)
rest 30 seconds
3x (curls, triceps kickbacks, arnold press)

350 calories burned per my HRM. HR Avg=117, 45 minutes

After that, I did the RLRF-prescribed exercise bike routine: 10 minutes easy, 10 minutes "tempo", 10 minutes easy. HRM calculated 304 calories burned. HR Avg = 127, 30 minutes.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2041
Consumed: 2002

Fat	58.3g	26.3%
Saturated Fat	8.2g
Cholesterol	338.3mg
Sodium	658mg
Carbohydrates	186.5g	37.3%
Fiber	48.4g
Sugars	62.5g
Protein	181.9g	36.4%

Breakfast: greek yogurt, berries, granola, almonds, chia seeds
Lunch: wild-caught salmon and a buttload (315g) of steamed broccoli
Dinner: I smoked a turkey! Had 7 1/4 oz of that (no skin) with 100g quinoa
Snacks: Large pear before the workout
Water Consumption: 96 oz. + a couple of glasses in the evening. I'm shooting for 96 per day. FWIW, I basically never drink anything but water. Maybe once or twice month I'll have a glass of wine, but there's a pretty good chance that during the next 16 weeks I'll drink nothing but water, unless you count a protein smoothie here or there.

COMMENTS
A very good day overall. Weighed in at 185.2 this morning, down 2.9 from yesterday.

[Alan T]

I've found "maintaining" weight has been much more difficult than losing weight was myself. Losing weight for me was pretty close to what you mentioned eating less calories than I burned. Maintenance for me so far has been kind of a guessing game at times. I've been yo-yoing between about a 8 pound range for two months.

I'm interested to see how it goes for you during the marathon training. Most of my marathon friends have told me that losing weight and marathon training do not work well together, and most of them actually gain a little during a marathon training cycle.

[Subby]

Interesting to see your snacking was just one pear. For a long time I was pretty wedded to the "eat every 2-3 hours" school, but now I am not so sure. There are some pretty good articles out there on fasting, meal sizes, frequency, etc..

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

TUESDAY
3x1-Mile Intervals. Goal is eventually 6:50 for all three. did them today in 7:02, 6:58, 6:54. Much better than last week's 7:24/7:03/6:54.

That was a week ago today, and 10 pounds lighter. Did these today in 6:52, 6:52, 7:02.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/403381707

I'm feeling very encouraged by that run.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

Interesting to see your snacking was just one pear. For a long time I was pretty wedded to the "eat every 2-3 hours" school, but now I am not so sure. There are some pretty good articles out there on fasting, meal sizes, frequency, etc..

I did a fair bit of experimenting with eating more than 3 meals, bigger snacks, etc. Based on my experiences and reading the experiences of a fair number of others (mainly on the LoseIt forums,) I'm under the impression that eating more meals can help speed metabolism a little, but not in enough of a hugely meaningful way to make it worth the extra time and effort. I tend to suspect that the much bigger benefit of eating more frequently is that it keeps you from feeling hungry, and therefore helps keep you from overeating at any one meal, or going on a crazy snack binge and downing an entire bag of Doritos or whatever.

For the most part, I only snack when I feel like I need a snack before a run or going to the gym. That's why I had the pear yesterday: I went to the gym shortly before lunch. I figured I'd use lunch as the post-gym protein, but because it was 5ish hours removed from breakfast, I wanted to eat a little something to give me a boost. Today, I ran mid-morning, just a couple of hours after eating breakfast, so I didn't eat a snack at all and there isn't one in the plan. I just had 8 ounces of flank steak, and 4ish oz. each of veggies and quinoa. That oughta hold me until dinner just fine.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY TWO (TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
185.2

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170


EXERCISE
Referenced above. 3x1Mile Intervals. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/403381707

Overall run was 7.01 miles, 8:26/mile pace, 836 calories burned.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2022
Consumed: 2015

Fat	81.2g	36.6%
Saturated Fat	16.8g
Cholesterol	594.9mg
Sodium	960mg
Carbohydrates	154.3g	30.9%
Fiber	37.9g
Sugars	32.3g
Protein	162.1g	32.5%

Breakfast: steel-cut oatmeal with whey protein powder, blueberries, apple, and walnuts
Lunch: flank steak, mixed steamed veggies (broc/caul/carrots), quinoa
Dinner: salad made with kale greens, smoked chicken breast, 2 boiled eggs, dry roasted edamame, red wine vinegar (no oil)
Snacks: None
Water Consumption: 96 oz. + one glass

COMMENTS
Great day. It looks like I'll be down another 3ish pounds from this morning at tomorrow's weigh-in.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Great day. It looks like I'll be down another 3ish pounds from this morning at tomorrow's weigh-in.

Wow. Down 4.2 to 181.0. I spent nearly two months maintaining in the 172-178 range. It's like my body is fighting to get back there ASAP.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY THREE (WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
181.0

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170


EXERCISE
Strength Training: Did the circuit workout mentioned earlier in the thread, but added 60-second planks to the first circuit and 15 crunches to the 2nd circuit, so it's now...

3x (pushups, lat pulldowns, squats, 60-sec plank)
rest 30 seconds
3x (dips, pullups, lunges, crunches)
rest 30 seconds
3x (curls, triceps kickbacks, arnold press)

Two exercises each for chest, back, core, and legs, then one isolation exercise for upper body. On some days I'll probably swap out dumbbell rows for pullups and dumbbell bench press for pushups or dips, but I think I'll stick with the basic chest/back/leg/core setup I have there. Here's what it looked like today:

http://runkeeper.com/user/benelou/st...ctivity/384031

Cycling: Per RLRF, I did 10 minutes easy, then 3x (2min hard, 2 min easy), then 10 minutes easy. 32 minutes total.

Roughly 650 calories burned in the two exercise routines, per my HRM.

NUTRITION
Budget: 1994
Consumed: 2015

Fat	48.9g	22%
Saturated Fat	10g
Cholesterol	657.4mg
Sodium	959.9mg
Carbohydrates	219.4g	43.9%
Fiber	48.9g
Sugars	35.9g
Protein	170.9g	34.2%

Breakfast: almond milk with protein powder, whole foods "morning delight" bulk granola, raspberries, sliced almonds, chia seeds (all in a bowl, ate it like cereal)
Lunch: pork tenderloin, quinoa, steamed broccoli, grape tomatoes
Dinner: salad: kale greens, baby spinach, smoked turkey breast, boiled eggs, red wine vinegar (no oil)
Snacks: Had a 9-oz sweet potato an hour before going to the gym
Water Consumption: 96 oz.

COMMENTS
Another very good day overall. Maybe back under 180 in the morning?

[Subby]

Were you really hungry at any time during the day? What is the timing of each meal?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

Were you really hungry at any time during the day? What is the timing of each meal?

I was hungry, but not what I'd call "really" hungry, at dinner time. Other than that, no. As far as timing...

• Breakfast for me is almost always between 7 and 7:45, and because I'm helping get the girls up and ready during that time usually, sometimes I'm taking a bite here and there of breakfast FROM 7 until 7:45.
• I ate the sweet potato at around 10:45, left for the gym around 11:45. That's pretty normal for gym days. The gym we belong to is 3 minutes from the house, so I try to work out there during standard lunch time and eat at my desk afterward.
• Lunch was a few minutes after 1pm.
• Dinner was right around 6pm.

Those are all pretty standard times for me on gym days. On non-gym days, breakfast and dinner are about the same as above, but I eat lunch around noon. (One major advantage that I suspect I have on the diet side is that I don't watch TV in the evenings, other than some football, so I'm not really tempted to snack in front of the TV at night like most people are.)

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Maybe back under 180 in the morning?

178.7. I'd love to get back to a place where I'm (weeks to marathon/2) pounds away from, say, 165 so I can feel comfortable bumping up the calorie intake again.

[Subby]

I think it's really interesting that you eat big meals and don't really eat between meals. I think the content of your meals is probably why you aren't as hungry (level blood sugar) plus you drink a ton of water. Looking at your daily nutritional intake, you consume a massively low quantity of sugar compared to the average american.

[Ben E Lou]

Yeah, I'm trying to keep sugars under 60g per day, which basically means in practice that I eat very little added sugars. I think maybe the Greek Yogurt has some, and one of the bulk granolas that I get from whole foods (coconut almond...freakin' YUM) has a small amount of honey. Neither is excessive, though. I typically eat 12 oz portions of the Greek yogurt: 13.5g sugar, 34.5g protein, nothing else. And on a heavy day I might eat 3 oz. of the coconut almond granola, and that's only 9.2g sugar. And yeah, I suspect that the water helps a lot, too.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY FOUR (THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
178.7

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170


EXERCISE
RLRF had me doing what it calls a "Short Tempo" run: 2 miles Easy, 2 miles @ 7:24 pace, 2 miles Easy. I probably went a little too fast on the first two and last two for them to be considered "Easy," but I did managed to hit the 7:24 pace exactly on the middle two miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/404110800

707 calories burned per my Polar HRM.

NUTRITION
Budget: 1979
Consumed: 2012

Fat	90.3g	40.5%
Saturated Fat	13.4g
Cholesterol	232.3mg
Sodium	766.5mg
Carbohydrates	135.2g	27%
Fiber	37.3g
Sugars	42.2g
Protein	163.1g	32.5%

Breakfast: Greek Yogurt, Ezekiel 4:9 granola, walnuts, triple berry blend (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)
Lunch: flank steak, normandy blend veggies (broc/caul/carrots)
Dinner: salad: salmon, broccoli
Snacks: none
Water Consumption: 80 oz.

COMMENTS
The Normandy Blend veggies have been a great discovery for me at Sam's Club: easy-steam-in-the-bag frozen veggies with no added...anything. Good price, too. My local Sam's has "Normandy Blend" and just plain broccoli. They steam perfectly in the microwave. Good stuff.

Rest day on Friday, then a 13-miler is planned for Saturday.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY FIVE (FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
175.5

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170

EXERCISE
Scheduled rest day today, and I took it 100%. I did not leave the house today at all.

NUTRITION
Budget: 1958
Consumed: 1951

Fat	68.3g	31.4%
Saturated Fat	12.6g
Cholesterol	631.8mg
Sodium	1,245.6mg
Carbohydrates	172.3g	35.2%
Fiber	46.4g
Sugars	36.1g
Protein	163.2g	33.4%

Breakfast: Steel cut oatmeal with blueberries, whey protein, apple, chia seeds, pistachios
Lunch: pork tenderloin, normandy blend veggies, quinoa
Dinner: salad: kale, grilled chicken breast, 2 boiled eggs, dry roasted edamame
Snacks: none
Water Consumption: 96 oz.

COMMENTS
I think I really needed the rest day today. Hope to feel refreshed for the 13-miler tomorrow. Still on a roll on the nutrition side of things.

[Alan T]

Do you keep track of your resting HR every morning out of curiosity? For any signs of overtraining or needed cutback/rest days?

Your comment about really needing the rest day made me curious if you did.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Do you keep track of your resting HR every morning out of curiosity? For any signs of overtraining or needed cutback/rest days?

Your comment about really needing the rest day made me curious if you did.

I check it most mornings, but it's not something that I track or use for sings of overtraining. My comment about really needing it was based purely on feeling generally tired and beaten up. (FWIW, I feel quite refreshed this morning and the HR is 53, which is on the low side for me in the morning.)

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I check it most mornings, but it's not something that I track or use for sings of overtraining. My comment about really needing it was based purely on feeling generally tired and beaten up. (FWIW, I feel quite refreshed this morning and the HR is 53, which is on the low side for me in the morning.)

Out of curiosity, what was your RHR yesterday morning, prior to your rest day?

I've been trying to track my RHR better lately. For me any time I get closer to 60, its usually a sign that my body is not going to respond as well that day. Having a good 55 or less RHR for me is a sign that I should have a pretty good training day.